


empty nester

by goabani



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, M/M, i'm a sap, most of the characters are just mentioned briefly but in fact there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-04 23:41:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11001438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goabani/pseuds/goabani
Summary: One's love for another can do so many things.





	empty nester

Zenyatta’s lights flickered briefly as he straightened himself and focused on the commotion outside the window sill. He had been in the middle of his meditation session when he heard a few birds squabbling beyond the pane of glass. Raising from the cushion he was residing on, he made his way wearily to the ajar window and pushed it wide open. In the flower basket was a bird, roughly bigger than his fist as his extended hand faltered above the ruffled wings. It must’ve gotten through the opened window and collapsed. His processors picked up the faint traces of body heat still left within the bird, sighing forlornly as he gently grasped the frail body.

Cradling it with utmost care, Zenyatta stared at the white cheeks and black chest of the bird before he finally put a metaphorical finger on it; it was a Sparrow, fairly uncommon during the winter in the region but as expected as it can be nonetheless. Glancing up, he noticed a fairly large raven preening it’s disheveled feathers a distance from him in the barren trees. A twinge of trepidation shot through his nerves, jolting him from his deep concentration on the little guy. It was upsetting; yes, most animal deaths upset Zenyatta to an extent. But this was on a different level of discontent. Zenyatta felt the Iris attempt to reach him, the hum of his orbs growing more intense the longer he stood there, simply staring at the lifeless body in his hands- yet he didn’t budge, didn’t even acknowledge the Iris’ attempts.

At last, the monk carefully maneuvered the little one into the tangle of marigolds, thriving in the enclosed window box, partially hidden from view. Out of sight, out of mind would work quite often for Zenyatta in minor matters like this. And yet, something haunted his thoughts about the sparrow, a piece of the puzzle he must’ve lost because something isn’t fitting the picture. Zenyatta can ignore it for now, he’ll go in for a checkup later.

Resuming the meditation was harder than he had wanted to, but he was persistent and got his way when it needed to be done.

Even if it meant shutting down for a few hours.

He awoke to the steady rapping on the door, his systems booting up in a hurry as the tapping became pounding and he faintly heard a feminine voice behind the metal paneling. As his hard drives came to life, he almost stumbled upon reaching the door and meeting Lena. She came at him in a flurry of movement too much for his drowsy processors to take in and too incoherent for him to make out. She took to clutching him without abandon, trembling and sobbing wickedly as she kept rambling. 

Gingerly stripping the distressed woman from his person, he resorted to holding her hands in his so she could hopefully focus enough to speak properly. Squeezing his hands in her grasp, Lena hiccuped and rasped.

“I-I… Oh, god it’s-” Lena collapsed back into sobbing again, unable to even get a coherent thought out. The monk tilted his head, confused but patient as ever as he guided a harmony orb into her grasp. He has all the time in the world, and coincidentally, so does she. Through a number of failed attempts of wheezing and half formed sentences, she finally managed to tell him something.

“‘S… It’s Genji.” Lena choked out, doubling over as her small frame shook violently with a new wave of sorrow. Her forehead made contact with his hands, momentarily shocking him out of his stupor as the words sunk in. It was… Genji? What was Genji? Zenyatta was aware of the mission he was on; a simple escort mission to make sure Orisa and Ms.Odele were safe during their nationwide tour. 

What could have possibly gone wrong?

Zenyatta’s head jerked up to face the source of sound, a low thundering through the corridor by his room (which made sense, he was in fact closest to the dining area) as other agents rushed by. He felt almost numb for a couple seconds as his thoughts flickered between the sparrow and  _ his _ sparrow, before he mechanically guided Lena into the wave of people. She was still gasping and fighting for her breath, streaks of tears staining her normally rosey cheeks. Thinking twice about wiping them, Zenyatta could only watch in a sense of mounting anxiety, in which sparks tickled his wires and ignited the Iris within him the closer they got to the main docking station. They got about halfway out the door before Lena had collapsed onto her knees with a keen of heart-wrenching pain. His gaze dragged along the sight of every other agent there, in some state of disarray or emotional torment- from Reinhardt silently weeping behind his hand and Jesse clutching his hat as he stubbornly refused to cry to Winston gripping the holopad painfully tight in one hand and Angela pacing back and forth as she anticipated the arrival. Hanzo was no where to be seen. The air felt thick and smothering around them all as Fareeha and Lucio stepped out of the transport ship

Zenyatta froze, body going rigid at the sight of the once white bed sheet clinging to the long and lithe frame of his student, laid out upon a stretcher. All his processors kicked off at once, unable to keep up with the sudden spike in outward input. Each orb dropped to the ground in unison, alerting Winston of his presence. The scientist went slack-jawed as a deep realization hit him, and upon the additional crash of the holopad shattering, several more heads turned to the monk. Hana had been closest to the door at the time, completely silent save for the words she croaked.

“It’s like M.E.K.A. all over again.” A sole tear escaped, the hard shell of the young veteran crumbling around the edges. Her head swung to look anywhere but the master and pupil, resting on the bright pink bunny slippers of her’s. Zenyatta hardly acknowledged that, hardly even heard it through the dull hum of the Iris. Unsteady on his feet, he picked his way through the sparse crowd that respectfully made way for him. There was a heavy ache within his core, burning him like hot coals and persistent as a fire.

Fareeha was a downright mess, mumbling nonsense under her breath as she white-knuckled her grip on the stretcher.

“I-I tried, I tried so hard but it- there was too many and… and…” Zenyatta didn’t pay her any mind, didn’t need to and didn’t want to. Didn’t even want to glance at her in fear of seeing the blood staining her gorgeous face and caking her skin as a gruesome reminder of her mistakes. Instead, he raised a trembling hand to silence her, moving to uncover the fallen when the low whispers and soft words of the team came to a grinding halt.

They had long since removed his visor and god, Genji looked so  _ beautiful _ , even with a bloody nose and mouth hanging half open. Even with his distant, dead eyes staring at him, Zenyatta could feel the Unknown tugging at him. Telling him how much he had loved his pupil even in death with skin, to once be mapped out in the night by such curious hands, chilled to the touch. The normal flush of his handsome face was fading with him, robbing the monk of the sight he would wake to, the sight he’d yearn to see on off days and during mediation. Happy and  _ alive.  _

In that instance, the fire that burned within his core grew to a blinding white as the Iris overcame him,  _ becoming him _ .

In a flash of heavenly gold, six shimmering arms reached for his pupil at once in a frenzy. One fumbled to intertwine with Genji’s unresponsive fingers, another tracing the hard metal plating of his chest for the thousandth time. Two lay rested in his lap, an old fidgeting habit offering minimal solace now. Gentle as the true lover he was, he cradled his jaw in two trembling palms and swept the hair from his forehead.

“Genji… my precious sparrow… h-how could this…” Zenyatta gasped and trembled violently, head dipping to rest against Genji’s. He needn’t ask why, as he had long since known that his lover’s recklessness and bravery would catch up to him. Knew that it was borrowed time that he was living on in blissful ignorance; like it would go away if he kept his back to it.

“Please. I don’t- I cannot do this alone.” Zenyatta cracked, voice fizzling out with static as they nuzzled cheeks like it would wake his lover. Zenyatta desperately pleaded, pleaded for the Iris, pleaded for Angela, pleaded for anyone to hear.

But no one heard. Even through the thin hum of the motors of the transport ship and the steady drone of the Iris that embraced the monk. Lucio had turned away, his body being rattled with his sobbing that only worsened when Fareeha had to usher him away from the stretcher. Numb and in shock herself, Fareeha was quickly joined by her mother, who gave her a teary-eyed smile of empathy. There wasn’t anything to do, Zenyatta absolutely loathed to admit, as it was too late to do anything. So he did what he could; he held Genji close within the Iris, whispering sweet little nothings into deaf ears and stroking the silky soft strands of pine-green hair. The fire within his core threatened to engulf him, his optical processors faltering and shutting down and his hearing aids failing him, the pure energy of the Iris becoming too much. With a sharp gasp, Zenyatta was gone just like that, core drivers powering down and body falling aside like a tin can. The spark that surged through him knocked him offline for a precious few seconds. 

Then he was back, having been caught by Zarya when he fell.  The Russian wasted little time gathering him in her arms and removing the little omnic from the sudden commotion around Genji’s body. Main operating processors were still offline, blind and his voice was muddled with static. 

“G-Genj…?” Zenyatta started before she chuckled, Zarya nearly fumbling as she came to a stop. 

“Do not worry, little omnic. You have done something amazing.” She assured, hearing the tears in her voice as she choked up. Visual processes slowly restarted, seeing the warrior grinning with all her might just as he was traded off to Satya and Hanzo. Hanzo received him with ease, kneeling to lay him out on the floor just a little ways from the scene. Just as his knees hit the floor, the floodgates opened. Hanzo rambled in his mother language, cradling his head in his lap as he doubled over. The monk’s first instinct was to brush a few tears away with one hand whilst the other fumbled to hold his chin up, still shaky.

“What have… I-?” Zenyatta started when he was distracted by Satya opening his chest panel and running a quick diagnostic check on his core. Satya herself was smiling, her eyes puffy from crying previously, he noticed as a couple more tears escaped her with a gentle giggle.

“For someone so wise, you have yet to look around.” She said, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand while she shut and secured the panel. Hanzo eased him into a sitting position- still latched onto him in a hug, and Satya gingerly guided him as he turned to the crowd. 

He couldn’t believe what he saw: Genji was propped up on his elbow, wide-eyed and staring down at Angela as she hastily worked with Ana on removing the shrapnel from the wound in his side. He looked disorientated and groggy, Angela must’ve already administered whatever medications she had with her when she arrived, as he didn’t appear to be in too much discomfort. Zenyatta surged forward, attempting to scramble to his feet before Satya reinforced her grasp on his wrists and Hanzo’s arms tightened around his thin waist.

“Easy- you may see him later.” Satya scolded warmly, holding hands with the omnic as he struggled to come to grips with what feat he has somehow accomplished. But Angela had said even she couldn’t revive him.

“You are confused, as are we.” Hanzo mumbled against Zenyatta’s back, watching over his shoulder at the medics working on his baby brother. Zenyatta relaxed finally, tense body easing back into the archer as Satya leaned into him as well, the warmth of their bodies lulling him into a serene state as they all three watched the doctors stabilize Genji and escort him inside.

In the distance resided an empty nest, the eggs sat open and unguarded in the punishing winter wind. Bastion cocked their head as Ganymede made point of flying over them with a persistent cry until it made a show of plopping on top of them. In a low string of a melody sung in binary, Bastion set to work ever so carefully plucking each egg out from under the bird’s rump and relocated them to their shoulder, just the right size for the nest already there. Happy as can be, Ganymede trilled with delight and settled down atop the adopted eggs, pecking at Bastion’s head in thanks. 

**Author's Note:**

> QwQ i feel like i should continue this but have no idea how to,, and yes the raven was symbolic for reaper as the sparrow was for genji. i even made it so it was possible for marigolds to even grow in there in the winter via an indoor window garden.
> 
> also fun fact sparrows can lay four clutches of eggs on a good year and have been known to nest all year young


End file.
